The Binding Tree
by Bren Cain
Summary: The history of the Torin Elves form of the binding of two who are in love. Taking place in my brothers AD&D world.


History of: Fauta'Tiergebal-amadora

Or, the binding tree of marriage.

The binding tree, as it is commonly referred to in common, is a pair of trees bound together at the union of a Torin couple.

These trees were brought over by the first ship of Torins from the motherland as seedlings. Each seed is a byproduct of its parent tree(s), all seeds originate from the first set of full grown, mated Fauta'Tiergebal-amadora.

At the binding ceremony of the couple they are presented with a sapling from their mother, she plucked the seed, planted it and cared for it up to ten season cycles before the ceremony.

At the ceremony the cleric will place the two sapling into the ground, twist the two together and tie them with a cloth, then cast the binding spell upon the trees and the couple, thus binding them, the trees and their counterpart, together.

Over time, the trees become mature, they only pollinate with its other half, and these other halves will be made into other Fauta'Tiergebal-amadora when the time comes.

The trees do not become very tall but what they lack in height they make up for in girth. The branches will spread over a very large area and the width of the trunks will take almost twenty full grown Torin Elves, hand to hand, to encompass.

The tree leaves will vary in color, but mostly they are found to have deep purple, green and occasionally crimson red leaves. Not surprisingly they shape of the leaves are almost heart shaped, they vary in size by the age of the tree, at full age the leaves will become slightly wider than the spread hand of a full grown Torin. The bark of the tree is actually very dark but surprisingly smooth.

In the fall, the leaves become transparent, often resembling a stained glass window as the autumn sunlight hits them. As all other trees, in the winter, the dark, silky branches become barren. The summer brings an array of a few small, fragrant blooms. They are silvery white and only the size of an egg. There are two sets of petals, one set of larger on the outside and another, more fragile lacy looking set on the inside with a pale red center.

It is legend that in the summer, the child that is old enough for marriage will gather a few of these blooms and take them to a herbalist to make a fragrant oil from its crushed petals. When worn by that young adult the legend says that it will draw to them the person they are to be bound to. Like a bee to a brightly colored flower.

The trees will live as long as it's other half does, that is part of the spell that is cast on the day of the binding. When one of the elves dies the tree becomes white and sliver.

It is said that the spirit of the deceased will reside with in that tree until the other elf has died, so that both souls may cross the unknown river together. When both elves have perished both trees will be silvery white and will die in due time, until their memory is wiped from the others who have known them. The silvery trees have been known to remain for hundreds of years until their own kin have also crossed the river.

Upon the 100th seasonal passing of the couples binding they are then given the right to adorn the tree with what is called Mnemosynafiss, or memory keeper.

The memory keeper come in many different forms; anything from embroidered silk, thin metal plates with engravings to colored glass with objects between the sheets. On each anniversary of the binding ceremony, these memories are tied onto the branches of the trees.

The Mnemosynafiss are left on for the remainder of the couples' lives, only to be removed after the couples bodies have left this world. The living realities will then remove the Mnemosynafiss and place them in a chest and then given to the eldest child of that couple. If there is no offspring of this union, then it is given to the closest living relative.

These chests of Mnemosynafiss are passed on generation to generation, never to be disgaurded. Some of these boxes of heritage go back many thousands of years, even before the crossing of the waters.

Many families have several chests of their ancestor's memories and can go threw the chest and give a history of what those ancestors did.

Be it farmer, smithy or sailor it could be read in the memories. Each child was marked on its own memory, each death or loss was made, and each notable happening was made into one of the hangers. The couple is not limited to how many memories they put on that tree; it is simply a keeper of their life together and the events that make their life worth living.

It is not an uncommon practice for the couple to be buried under the shade of their tree with a small burial marker of stone or metal.

Torin elf families are typically very knowledgeable about their ancestry and keep close ties with cousins and other realities.


End file.
